


man at home (treats me well)

by torkz



Category: Long Exposure (Webcomic)
Genre: Angst, Melancholy, listen mitch hates himself but he loves joey idk what else to tell you
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-29
Updated: 2017-09-29
Packaged: 2019-01-06 18:15:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 359
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12216264
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/torkz/pseuds/torkz
Summary: I wrote this while listening to She Treats Me Well by Ben Howard and BOY is that chock full of MitJo feels, pals





	man at home (treats me well)

Mitch Mueller is not the smartest man. He’s okay with that. He has more issues than a small town newspaper, more problems than the multiplication worksheets he never bothered to finish. He spent a lot of his life feeling like he was useless, unimportant, unworthy. He tried to make himself small, and when he couldn’t stop himself from growing, he decided to fill up as much space as he could, make trouble so that they would all avoid him. It worked, mostly.

He does something else to make himself smaller.

That doesn’t work much at all.

He’s spent so much of his life, of his time, angry and lashing out. Bad things kept happening. People kept leaving. He couldn’t do right so he gave up, tried to do better and failed, so he gave up again.

Until one day, a small boy with freckles gave him a chance. Smiled at him. Made him feel soft and sweet in his gut, so unlike the way he feels hard and rough in his head, grimey and ugly in his body. He’s like a soft blanket, that boy, like hot chocolate and warm dinners made by the only person who's always made them just the way you like without being asked. Like your favorite old sweater and most worn pair of pants that make you feel at home when you put them on. Like your bed after a long trip away, like a safe space to keep your belongings.

He feels like home.

Mitch isn’t such a man that he expects his freckled boy to heal him of all his shortcomings. Life doesn’t work that way and neither does love, as much as he begs it too. He’s still him, still bad at knowing when to stop, still bad at taking care of himself. He’s trying though. He’ll try in every way he can to bring sunshine smiles to the lips of the boy who took one look at him and decided to love him back.

Mitch still doesn’t feel worth much, most days. But he’s got a man at home who treats him well, and he thinks that might be enough.

**Author's Note:**

> leave me a comment for any questions or suggestions and please come visit me on [tumblr!](http://oluranurse.tumblr.com)


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